My Obsession with RuPauls Drag Race and its Impact on my Mental Health

This is a story of my obsession with RuPaul Drag Race and its therapeutic effects on my mental health. Confession. I have watched every season of Ru Paul Drag Race for more than 3 times each season. Probably more than thrice, I lost count! Hahaha! Good day. I’m Kaycee and I’ve been diagnosed with Bipolar-2. This means I have seasonal moods that switches randomly or sometimes triggered by certain events. The mood swings can span from years, months, or hours (heaven forbid rapid cycling). You can learn more about my life as bipolar here (Read More: Being Bipolar)

Last year I spiraled into a state of depression for months. It was triggered by a quite traumatic faux break-up. It’s too personal to share so let’s just leave it at that. My mind cannot stop running, and voices in my head argue. The hardest thing for me to handle is when its late at night and everyone is asleep. That’s the time I felt alone. I needed something to distract me from the pain, without physically hurting myself.

Discovering RuPaul Drag Race

I discovered RuPaul Drag Race upon seeing some of my friends’ status and comments on Netflix recommendations. I was looking for something new to binge. Nothing too happy because I’ll get jealous with their lives. Nothing too dark because it will further plunge my mood. Campy. Yes campy is the perfect word for it. I watched Season 7 on Netflix on random. I didn’t even know there was a recommended order in watching this.

The first episode just passed by to me as background noise to keep me company. They finally caught my attention when they started walking the runway! The costumes they wore were stunning! You know they really put effort on each look. Not just the clothes but also how they did their hair and makeup.

Days passed into weeks and I binged watched every season in this order as recommended by my friend:

• Season 4
• Season 5
• Season 6
• Season 7
• Season 8
• All Stars 1
• Season 2
• I didn’t know why she didn’t mention there was Season 1, maybe it’s hard to find on the internet.
• Season 9
• All Stars 2 (my personal fave)

How Watching RuPaul Drag Race Helped Me Cope with Depression

Charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent. These are the traits a queen should have if they want to snatch the crown. From cut throat dramas to sisterhood. Snatch game, dance challenges, hosting, making a music video, doing a play., sewing challenges, makeover challenges. This has got to be the toughest reality show to be in. You have to be good in everything!

I can relate most to Katya of Season 7. She’s diagnosed bipolar too and currently on hiatus because she’s focusing on getting better. Sometimes a break is all we need.

It’s so crazy with a lot of things happening at the same time that it helped my brain focus. Oddly enough it distracted me from the problems I was facing that time. RuPaul Drag Race, and their drag queens helped me cope. Even if they are not physically with me. I cannot explain why I feel so much calm when I watch the show. This post is my token of gratitude to RuPaul, an all the queens. It makes me feel at peace.

That’s why whenever someone who’s also depressed messages me and asking me for help or what to do to distract them, I recommend RuPaul Drag Race. It never fails to help! I’m not a doctor or a therapist so I cannot explain why so but it does and I’m thankful.